*Dar es Salaam, 16 March 2014.* Five countries which are severely affected
by two deadly viral diseases threatening to wipe out cassava in East and
Southern Africa, have joined efforts to tackle the problem by sharing their
top five varieties with tolerance to the two diseases. The 25 varieties in
total will then be evaluated in each country to identify those that are
well adapted to the various cassava-growing regions and acceptable to the
local farming communities.
Together, cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) and cassava mosaic disease
(CMD), are responsible for production losses worth more than US$1 billion
every year and are a threat to food and income security for over 30 million
farmers growing cassava in East and Central Africa.
The first consignment of 19 varieties to each of the countries, as tissue
culture virus-tested plantlets, was handed over, at the end of last week, to
the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the Kenya
Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) that received them on behalf of the
national agricultural research systems of the five countries – Malawi,
Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. The handing over was held at
the Genetics
Technologies International Limited (GTIL) – a tissue culture-based
laboratory based in Nairobi, Kenya, that was tasked with mass
multiplication of the varieties. The remaining varieties are still
undergoing mass multiplication and will be sent out later.
While handing over the tissue culture plantlets to IITA and KARI, Dr
Ochieng Joseph, the Assistant Director, Food Crops at KARI, who was also
the chief guest, said this marked a very important step in the effort to
control the two diseases ravaging cassava to ensure food security in the
five countries.
He thanked all the partner organizations for their effort in collecting,
cleaning up, and multiplying the varieties. “The next task will be to
ensure that, once these varieties are evaluated and the best varieties are
identified, they reach the small-holder farmers by having an efficient seed
distribution system in place. Without seeds, we have no varieties. And all
these efforts will have been in vain,” he said.
“Cassava is a very important food and income security crop for over 80
million farmers in the tropics. We are also looking to it to help our
farmers cope with climate change as it is able to withstand harsh
conditions such as drought and poor soils. However, for this to happen we
need to control the spread of these two diseases. And one of the most
sustainable ways to do so is to develop varieties that have dual
resistance,” said Dr Leena Tripathi, IITA Kenya Country Representative
during the ceremony. “However, this takes a very long time, therefore this
sharing of varieties that have been released or are near release from and
across the five countries will considerably reduce this time.”
This exchange of material is one of the key activities of the project*New
Cassava Varieties and* *Clean Seed to Combat CMD and CBSD*” led by IITA and
funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project aims
to alleviate food insecurity and poverty by ensuring that farmers
have access to high-quality disease-free planting material of diverse
improved varieties that combine resistance to CBSD and CMD, and with
preferred end-user characteristics.
The varieties were first sent to the Natural Resources Institute (NRI,UK)
and to Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS) for cleaning to
ensure their safe transfer to all five participating countries and reduce
any chance of spreading the diseases further. They were then forwarded
to GTIL.
“Today marks a very important step in the fight against CBSD, with the five
countries coming together to freely share their best materials that are
tolerant to the disease. Each country will have 20 new varieties to
evaluate and choose for official release and multiplication to farmers,”
said Dr Edward Kanju, IITA breeder and 5CP Project Coordinator. “We have
also taken steps to ensure that we are not spreading the diseases from one
country to another and that the materials that we are distributing are
virus free,”
Each country will receive 300 plantlets of the 25 varieties which they will
multiply in bulk and test across different cassava-growing regions in their
respective countries to fast-track efforts to provide farmers with
varieties that are tolerant to the two diseases.
“On behalf of the national agricultural research systems from Malawi,
Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, I receive these tissue-culture
plantlets and promise we will multiply and test them across different
cassava-growing regions. We will identify those that are tolerant to the
diseases and suitable for different uses such as for cooking, for flour,
and even for starch,” said Dr Therese Munga, 5CP Kenya Country Coordinator
and Head of cassava research at KARI.
She noted that currently the cassava yield in the five countries was very
low averaging 8 – 9 t/ha but with these new varieties, yield could go up to
20 t/ha. “This will give our farmers enough cassava to meet their food
needs and the surplus for processing into for flour and starch. This will
not only contribute to food security but also income and job creation in
the rural areas,” she said.
To date, despite all the breeding efforts, no country has developed
varieties with resistance to the two diseases and they therefore continue
to spread in the region. However, varieties that are tolerant–showing mild
symptoms but still giving acceptable yields–have been officially released
and many more are in the final stages of official release in project target
countries.
*Key partners*
*NARS partners: *Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Department
for Agricultural Research Services (DARS)-Malawi, National Institute of
Agronomic Research (IIAM)-Mozambique, Ministry of Agriculture & Food
Security-Department for Research and Development (DRD)-Tanzania, National
Agricultural Research Organization (NARO)-Uganda.
*Regulatory partners: *Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS),
Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute (TOSCI).
* Private/Commercial partners: *Genetics Technologies International Limited
(GTIL)-Kenya and Crop Biosciences Solution-Arusha, Tanzania.